bingothekangaroo

[bingothekangaroo]

“I thank you God for most this amazing day” -E.E Cummings

Blog #5 

April 16, 2021

      In American History Class, they continued the WWII topic. They finished their different war theories (Pacifism, Just War Theory, Preemptive)  by assigning parts of the room to a theory. One side represented pacifism and across the room was preemptive. Just war theory was the middle of the room. Students were asked to stand in the room where their own beliefs were. Some students leaned completely on one side while others lingered in between different ones. They each explained why they chose the spot they did and shared their ideas with each other and answered the teacher’s questions. The next day they watched a clip of the film Captain American: First Avenger. In one of the scenes, Steve Rogers tours the US performing to convince people to buy bonds. One actor tells Steve that he is on the biggest battlefield of the war by doing this. The teacher then explains the importance bonds had in the war and what Americans did here in the US to help with the war. The class then read some sources about the four freedoms. The Junior American literature class continued to read through Huckleberry Finn and had a vocabulary test. For the poetry part of their class, they read through some of E.E Cummings’ poems and then wrote their own poems like him. The teacher encouraged them to be “creative, have fun and even go crazy with it”. My favorite of the poems was one written completely backwards. 

      (Miscellaneous) “What added school responsibilities does the teacher do other than teach? Are these responsibilities mandatory or did they volunteer? Do they receive extra compensation for them?” Both of my supervising teachers have responsibilities outside of their classroom they are expected to do each week. This often looks like supervising passing periods and coming to school early once a week to monitor the hallways. Once a week students are expected to attend a church service in the chapel room, teachers and staff are expected to be present for these. There is also a weekly Bible study completely run by the students, but the teachers are still expected to sit outside their classrooms to monitor them. These responsibilities are expected to be performed as part of the job, so teachers do not get compensated for them. The Social Studies teacher also coaches high school cross country and junior high track. He volunteered for these responsibilities and does get compensated for his time and travel expenses. 

      The reflection question that I have chosen to answer is from chapter 8 page 257. “Do you believe that controversies about religion in the schools will have a chilling effect on your own willingness as a teacher to have students read religious literature or study the contributions of religions?” I think it will be difficult to talk about religion to a certain degree. Since there are so many rules that prevent students and teachers from going to certain depths of religion, it will be hard for me to balance the rules while still providing enough information for students. As a Social Studies teacher, it would be near impossible for me to avoid religious discussions since it plays huge parts in some events in history and other cultures. Personally growing up in a private religious school, I am used to talking about all sorts of religions and what they believe. I feel that it is important for students to be exposed to other’s beliefs. Our job as educators is to provide knowledge to our children, not hide it from them because we fear it or disagree with it. 

[bingothekangaroo]

My High School Principle is a Pacifist

Blog Post #4

April 11, 2021

      This week the junior social studies class is continuing their study of WWII. Last week, they learned about the attack on Pearl Harbor. This week, they dive into America’s response to it. They started with listening to FDR’s speech where he asks Congress for permission to go to war with Japan. After, they began looking at three standpoints to war: Pacifism, Just War Theory, and Preemptive. They decided that FDR used Just War Theory to justify their choice to go to war. They then went through different aspects of this theory and found how those applied to different sections in his speech. The next few days they worked on reading and watching different sources about the viewpoints on war and made a Flipgrid to discuss their own views on this topic. They then had to respond to each other’s videos. I think this was a great way for them to practice expressing their own ideas in a discussion post way while still showing the teacher they have understood the past few lessons. 

      “Does your teacher require learning in the upper levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (analyzing, evaluating, creating) or are most of the lessons geared within the three lower levels (remembering, understanding, applying)?” After this week’s lesson plan, I would say that my Social Studies supervising teacher exhibits expectations to reach the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The students did not just read FDR’s speech and learn about Just War Theory, but they then had to analyze different sources and be able to figure out which belief they had and what characteristics supported their statements. They also have to create their own statements about their own beliefs with these theories. 

      Reflection Question #2 Chapter 11 page 346: “The authors of this textbook believe that the hardest job in public education is that of a high school principal. Do you agree or disagree with this position? For what reasons?” At first when I read this, I did not think it was fair to say one job is the most difficult when most positions in high school come with their own share of struggles. But after considering their standpoint, I do agree that it could be the most difficult. First, the students are most likely to be cut off since they just see the principle as someone trying to find ways to get them into trouble. People with a history of discipline issues will especially see this. The teachers may also be more hostile toward them then their other coworkers since the principles may turn down some of their ideas/plans or not give them the evaluation they were hoping for. Thankfully, some people are willing to face these struggles for the sake of the teachers and students. Some of them may even overcome these struggles and gain the trust of the people in their school and become a lifeline for them. 

[bingothekangaroo]

Our Imagination can be the best learning tool.

Blog Post #3 

March 28, 2021   

      This week in Social Studies the students finished up their topic about the New Deal. For their last assignment, they had a debate about whether these programs were a success or failure. He assigned the student his/her stance on this topic and then gave them all the same sources to find information on their standpoint. The two groups worked to decide how they wanted to share their ideas and be prepared for points the other group may bring up. Once they were ready , the lined their desks to face each other. He worked as moderator and sometimes stepped in to help students express their ideas. I feel that this lesson provided a lot of different values. First, it helped them practice doing research about events in history and think for themselves about their own opinions. It also gives them practice in sharing different ideas in an ordered and calm manner while still being open and considerate to others ideas. Lastly, it helps the students learn to look  for reliable sources. Later in the week, they began studying World War II. In my English class, the students read about Imagist Poets for example Ezra Pound and William Williams. They also worked on writing their own phenomenal imagist poems. 

      The reflection question that I have decided to answer is from chapter seven. “In which of the following ways does your supervising teacher use technology as a learning tool: collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and/or creativity?” Both teachers use technology to their advantage to help the students. They use Google Classroom as a platform for students to keep track of their work and keep up with their lesson when they are gone. Mr. H is very good at incorporating technology in a variety of ways to help lots of different students’ needs. This week in the junior history class, they began to learn about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. While reading the statistics of the loss and damage done during this event, they did not seem interested in the topic. They then watched a clip of the bombing scene from the movie Pearl Harbor (2001). Seeing and hearing a replication of this event made it real to them. The class often made comments like “wow” and “oh no” to different events as they realized the enormity of this event. After that, they seemed much more interested in the topic. In his sophomore history class, he had them create a Facebook profile for one of the dictators during World War II that included an about me, pictures, and friend list of people this dictator was close with. In Geography, they used their computers to do research on items to take to their chosen European country. Both of these classes will present their creations and choices on Monday. Because of the given examples, I would say that H uses technology as a form of communication, critical thinking, and creativity. 

      The pause and reflect question that I have decided to answer is “Should a school lay out what is to be learned, or should students have a larger say in what and how they learn? Why?” I understand why we have set curriculums. The first being for standardized tests. If every child is taught the same material for the same period of time then it is easier for them to be assessed with the same tests. Having a strict curriculum also makes it easier for students when they transfer schools. Lastly, it can be to helped students who are more likely to slack off. They may only choose classes and subjects that are easier and never reach their full potential with discipline. With all of this said, I still do think there must be a way for students to have more of a say in what they learn. Of course, for this to happen, many aspects of the school system will have to be changed. I think many educators forget that the person who knows the student best is the student. Many of them know their needs. When they are able to learn about their interests in a way that fits their learning style, they can accomplish so much more. I think we would see an incline in specialization in careers, less need for long college years, and potentially less drop outs. I realized this back in the first two years of high school. I had lots of interests and wanted classes that fit my needs for these interests which could lead to future career options. My school let us pick any foreign language we wanted as long as we were willing to teach ourselves over Rosetta Stone. I asked my guidance counselor if I could learn Korean for two years as my foreign language. At this point, no one at my school had any interest in Asian languages and no one had moved to Asia to teach, so there was no point. She declined and told me to find a practical language that I would actually use in my career. I studied ASL for my two years. It was not until I moved to Korea for a summer that she let me study Korean for my third year of foreign language studies. If I had gone to Korea with two years of experience, I would have made so much more progress and connected better with my English students. Unfortunately, sometimes our ideas of what the students need to succeed in their lives, is exactly what is holding them back. 

[bingothekangaroo]

FDR And Mark Twain Are Going On Spring Break

Blog post #2

March 14, 2021

      I am now into my third week of observation for my practicum. I have now had the chance to become more involved with the class and try my hand at some activities with the students. These past two weeks revealed the students’ excitement for spring break. Each day we get closer to their break, they become more and more hyper. Thankfully, my two supervising teachers have been able to control the class and keep them focused. They have had to keep their assignments moving quickly and going along with the rabbit trails the students have created. 

      The first day of this week, some of the underclassmen were taking the act in our normal classroom, so the students had class in a different room. This caused them to be rowdy and made it difficult for the teacher to use his normal lesson with the lack of technology options compared to his classroom. Thankfully, he was able to use the new environment to his advantage to make some jokes and keep the kids focused. My junior history class is currently learning about FDR and the New Deal Programs. The teacher brought an old radio that looked like it was from the 1930’s and played one of FDR’s Fireside Chats. They then spent the next few days creating a radio commercial about a New Deal Program of their choice and making it seem like it was from the 1930’s by incorporating music and slang from that era. Students went out into the hall to record themselves once they were ready, and it was my job to supervise them while they were recording and help with any technology questions they had. 

      The junior American Literature class began studying Mark Twain and his stories. The one the students seemed to enjoy the most was “Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. They got to watch a short film that depicted this story and then began reading Huckleberry Finn. They will be reading this book over the next few weeks as a class. On the last day before break, the students were extra talkative. The fact the boys team was going to state added even more excitement to the day. Surprisingly, the two students who sit in the very back of the room and do not talk were voluntarily answering all of the teacher’s questions and wanting to talk about the vocabulary words in more depth. The teacher joked that since they understood this lesson so well that they should come to the board and teach it. The two students loved this idea and the class begged her to let them. She let them run the class for the last fifteen minutes under close supervision and a little help from her. The two students got to call on who they wanted to read the vocabulary word meanings and led the discussion as the class read through some of Robert Frost poems. The teacher was shocked by how well and in depth the students went during this time. I think this was the best way to change things up while still getting the students to focus through the excitement of their day. I think this also boosted the two quiet students' confidence and I would not be surprised if they start answering more questions in class without having to be called on. 

      The question that I have decided to answer for this blog is from chapter 6, “What types of effective teaching strategies do you see your supervising teacher use?” For the sake of simplicity, I will just be discussing the habits of my English teacher, Mrs. E, even though both supervising teachers show many different strategies of an effective teacher. The first thing that stands out to me about Mrs. E is her strategy to build a positive community in her classroom. She always welcomes them with a smiling face at the door each morning. She takes time to talk to them about their evenings at work and how their basketball games went. She even makes sure to go to as many games as she can and involves the cheerleaders in the basketball discussions. It is clear that she values these children as if they were her own. This helps the students feel connected to each other and build confidence for them to speak out and ask questions. It also helps some students lower their guard and become more open to learning. Another strategy that she uses is questioning the students. She frequently stops between reading to ask students questions about what they just read. Sometimes, if the text is difficult, she may ask them to explain what just happened in the story. This helps her see if the students are understanding the text and listening. Other times she asks complicated questions that require the students to add their own opinions, make connections from other writers and life experiences, and other times she incorporates vocabulary into her questions. I think this strategy is very effective to help the more advanced students expand their thinking from just the basics, and helps slower students be able to think critically and get help from their classmates' answers. She avoids asking too simple of questions and is comfortable sitting for longer periods of silence to give students time to think and look for answers. 

      The reflection question that I choose to discuss is from chapter 6, page 168. “Do you recall any teachers from your own schooling who demonstrated especially strong or weak content knowledge? How did they demonstrate their level of knowledge?” In high school my computer and journalism teacher did show a lack of knowledge in the content she taught. She was an older woman and it was difficult for her to keep up with the constant changes in technology at the school. Children are naturally pretty fast at figuring out how to use these kinds of resources and are comfortable looking for answers on Google on how to use different platforms. The websites she used were outdated and the students already knew the lessons that she made. They often skipped ahead of her and finished class early. Other times she would come to us for help with her computer and phone. Unfortunately, I think this caused her to be intimidated and stop learning the content all together. My final year with her, she stopped teaching lessons and instead brought in photographers and computer programmers to teach us to create the yearbook and take photos. If we had questions she expected us to ask the upperclassmen or figure out the question yourself through experimentation. Her evident lack of content knowledge caused her to lose control and respect from her classes and prevented them from reaching their full potential.

[bingothekangaroo]

The Clock Struck 12: The Start of a New Beginning.

#Practice Blog Post 

      This week was my first official week of observation for my practicum at my old high school. I have been assigned to Junior World History and Junior American Literature. The little taste I have over these few days has taught me so much as I watch the teachers respond to different situations and the conversations we have had after class. My history class is currently covering the 1930′s. They started with watching the film “Cinderella Man” and looking for the ways that the Great Depression was affecting the families and societies throughout the film. Reading about the struggles of this time in a textbook can only go so far. Actually seeing people put emotions and faces to these stories made the students understand on a deeper level. As the main character worked incredibly hard to provide for his family, the students became more attached and related themselves to him. By the end of the movie the students were even clapping and rooting for him to succeed. I found it so interesting how this film was fun for them to watch, yet they were learning so much without feeling like they were putting in a lot of work. Then they played the game Top Crop from National Geographic’s website to learn about farming terminology as they go into learning about the Dust Bowl. My English class spent the week finishing reading their book “The Last of the Mohicans''. I spent half the time watching this class and the other half grading grammar homework and research papers. 

      The reflection question I have decided to address is from chapter four. “What social class do you come from? Is it similar to the students you are observing? How will your upbringing affect the students you teach?” I grew up in the lower middle class. These students are also mostly from lower middle class while some are from the upper middle class. Since my family was lower class, my parents spent most of their time at work trying to keep up with bills. This meant that I spent a lot of time at home with my older brother and the weekends at my parents’ work. Since my brother was busy with his own job and homework and my family could not always afford tutors, I was almost always on my own for homework. Thankfully, I was blessed with always having a bed and electricity to come home to. Because of this time in my life, I can be very empathetic to students who do not have the ideal work environment outside of school. I understand that many spend their evenings in daycares or the back rooms of their parents’ work. I also understand that many parents are too busy to help their children with homework or attend meetings with the teacher. In worse cases, the parent is looking for a job and the child is too worried about where to sleep than schoolwork. Having this understanding, allows me to create an environment in my class where the student can get lots of help in their work before leaving for the evening and I understand that they may get answers wrong. I can also find ways to contact parents without having to take a lot of their time from work and taking care of their children. 

The pause and reflect question I have decided to answer is “Are you interested in teaching children from poverty situations? Why or why not?” This question is from chapter four page 101. I am interested in teaching to this demographic because I understand the value of education. When I see families that are struggling to provide for their families, I feel called to help in any way possible. Giving people money can only go so far, but giving a student the confidence and knowledge needed to work their way out of that lifestyle is worth much more. Seeing the poorer children in my classroom makes me even more passionate about this topic, but still realistic in that they require much more understanding and energy for them to succeed. 

[bingothekangaroo]

Mathematicians or Sherlock Holmes?

Practice Blog Post January 31, 2021

      Today, Mrs. L was helping the students work through some math word problems. She used a fantastic metaphor by teaching the students about detectives. She compared students searching the solution to their problem as the same as a detective searching for evidence to solve the crime. She reviewed over concepts they have discussed in the past to help guide the students into the right mindset. Then she turned their attention to her white board. Ahead of time she created some examples of students working through these problems and let the students evaluate these students’ tactics. They looked at the different forms of “evidence” that was used to solve the math problem. Then the students discussed their findings with each other and shared with the teacher. 

      “Does the school exhibit any of the eight characteristics of an effective school?” In chapter two, we discussed eight characteristics that an effective school has. While there is still a lot I do not know about this school and Mrs. L’s class, I have already seen her class show some of these characteristics. The one that stood out to me the most was that her class is task oriented. She keeps the students engaged and does not leave time to waste. She often asks questions that keep the students’ attention. It was clear that put a lot of time into working ahead of time so her students are not left waiting for her. They are working hard to continue to learn as much as they can. 

      Chapter fourteen addresses some of the problems that new teachers run into. One was “friends or fiends?” (14.5 page 435-439). Students are the main reason that most teachers chose the career they did. Teachers put a lot of time and effort into seeing their students succeed. Unfortunately, some students are not grateful for this and can become troublesome. Mrs. L demonstrated a great example of this classroom management. While letting students share their thoughts, one boy got a little off track. While the boy meant no harm from his comments, it was distracting to the students and frustrating to Mrs. L. Thankfully, Mrs. L handled the situation perfectly. She did not ignore him, but found a way to validate his comment. She made it clear that he needed to share his point quickly and made a quick recovery back to her point that she was making.